friends; Benjamin West, the President of the Royal Academy, often dropped in, and his handsome son was a particular close friend. Mrs Papendiek tried in vain to help Sir Thomas Lawrence in his early unsuccessful attempts to gain royal favour. The wives of the famous told their life stories to her sympathetic ear: Mrs Zoffany, the artistâs wife, confessed how she had been his mistress at the age of fourteen. She admired the long-suffering Mrs Meyer, whose difficult husband sent their children away to a miserable school, and who generously gave his exquisite miniatures to the sitters after his death.
She was equally popular with scientists such as Sir Joseph Banks and Sir William Herschel, who became the Kingâs Astronomer. She heard the history of his life from the time when he came to England, a deserter from the Hanoverian army, with a shilling in his pocket, before making his way to fame through his music and his skill in making telescopes. He, his brilliant sister and his wife were welcome visitors at her own home.
Fanny Burneyâs encounter with Herschel confirms the generosity of the King and the breadth of his patronage. Herschel came to Windsor to show âHis Majesty and the royal family the new comet lately discovered by his sister, Miss Herschelâ. Miss Burney went into the garden where Herschel âshowed her âthe first ladyâs cometâ, and some of his new discovered universes, with all the good humour with which he would have taken the same trouble for a brother or sisterâ.
His success, she observed,
He owes wholly to his majesty ⦠he was in danger of ruin, when his ⦠great & uncommon genius attracted the kingâs patronage. He has now not only his pension ⦠but ⦠licence from the king to make a telescope according to his new ideas ⦠that is to have no cost spared in its construction, and is wholly to be paid for by his majesty. 24
There was much at Court to excite Miss Burneyâs intellectual interest, but she was never at ease, unsure of her place in the social hierarchy.
But no one enjoyed the cultural life of the Court more than the daughter of the Queenâs page. Though she might listen to the grand concerts at the Queenâs House from the next room, she never felt, as Miss Burney did, uncertain of her place or outside the pale. She, her husband and her father were part of the royal family, secure in their position among âpeople of our rankâ.
Mrs Papendiek took advantage of free tickets to theatres and operas, and was the friend of singers such as the great Mara, and actors and actresses including Mrs Siddons, Miss Farren, David Garrick and Roger Kemble. But it was among the musicians that she was most at home. Her father, Frederick Albert, played many instruments, and Mr Papendiek was an accomplished flute player. We must have Papendiek on his flute,â George III exclaimed when they were discussing a forthcoming concert at Westminster Abbey. The Prince of Wales, no mean performer himself, often sent for him to accompany him in his musical evenings, but both her husband and father firmly refused to take part in the Prince of Walesâs wild evenings. As for Johann Christian Bach, he and his wife were for many years an important part of their lives. He taught her to sing and she never forgot the enchantment of his musical parties on the river at Richmond. She mourned his sad later years when he was neglected and wept with his wife at his death. Mrs Papendiek was a competent pianist herself, playing with great pleasure Bachâs compositions on the new grand piano â which they acquired when the King rejected it for Windsor. She gave balls in her kitchen and concerts in her sitting room to which some of the most talented men and women of the time were delighted to come. The German impresario, Johann Peter Salomon, was a frequent guest at her musical evenings. He gaveher tickets to the concerts he organized for
She was equally popular with scientists such as Sir Joseph Banks and Sir William Herschel, who became the Kingâs Astronomer. She heard the history of his life from the time when he came to England, a deserter from the Hanoverian army, with a shilling in his pocket, before making his way to fame through his music and his skill in making telescopes. He, his brilliant sister and his wife were welcome visitors at her own home.
Fanny Burneyâs encounter with Herschel confirms the generosity of the King and the breadth of his patronage. Herschel came to Windsor to show âHis Majesty and the royal family the new comet lately discovered by his sister, Miss Herschelâ. Miss Burney went into the garden where Herschel âshowed her âthe first ladyâs cometâ, and some of his new discovered universes, with all the good humour with which he would have taken the same trouble for a brother or sisterâ.
His success, she observed,
He owes wholly to his majesty ⦠he was in danger of ruin, when his ⦠great & uncommon genius attracted the kingâs patronage. He has now not only his pension ⦠but ⦠licence from the king to make a telescope according to his new ideas ⦠that is to have no cost spared in its construction, and is wholly to be paid for by his majesty. 24
There was much at Court to excite Miss Burneyâs intellectual interest, but she was never at ease, unsure of her place in the social hierarchy.
But no one enjoyed the cultural life of the Court more than the daughter of the Queenâs page. Though she might listen to the grand concerts at the Queenâs House from the next room, she never felt, as Miss Burney did, uncertain of her place or outside the pale. She, her husband and her father were part of the royal family, secure in their position among âpeople of our rankâ.
Mrs Papendiek took advantage of free tickets to theatres and operas, and was the friend of singers such as the great Mara, and actors and actresses including Mrs Siddons, Miss Farren, David Garrick and Roger Kemble. But it was among the musicians that she was most at home. Her father, Frederick Albert, played many instruments, and Mr Papendiek was an accomplished flute player. We must have Papendiek on his flute,â George III exclaimed when they were discussing a forthcoming concert at Westminster Abbey. The Prince of Wales, no mean performer himself, often sent for him to accompany him in his musical evenings, but both her husband and father firmly refused to take part in the Prince of Walesâs wild evenings. As for Johann Christian Bach, he and his wife were for many years an important part of their lives. He taught her to sing and she never forgot the enchantment of his musical parties on the river at Richmond. She mourned his sad later years when he was neglected and wept with his wife at his death. Mrs Papendiek was a competent pianist herself, playing with great pleasure Bachâs compositions on the new grand piano â which they acquired when the King rejected it for Windsor. She gave balls in her kitchen and concerts in her sitting room to which some of the most talented men and women of the time were delighted to come. The German impresario, Johann Peter Salomon, was a frequent guest at her musical evenings. He gaveher tickets to the concerts he organized for
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